Sealed package



(No Model.)

0. s. FBLLOWS.

SEALED PAGKAGE.

N5. 545,455. v5555155541 sept. s, 1895.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

OLIN STEPHEN. FELLOWS, OF MIDDLETOWN, NEV YORK.

SEALED PACKAG E.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 545,465, dated September 3, 1895.

Application iled October 18,1894. Serial No. 526,254. (No model.)

To @ZZ whom 1 5 may concern.-

Be it known that I, OLIN STEPHEN FEtr LOWS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Middletown, in the county of Orange and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Sealed Packages, of which the following is a specification sufficient to enable others skilled in the art to which the invention appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to metal cans, &c., in which the flange of one end cap is designed to be stripped from the can-body in order to open the can by detaching or partially detaching the end plate.

I am aware that it has been proposed to make a circumscribing incision in the end cap at the angle of the flange and coinciding in position with the edge of the can-body to facilitate the strippingoff of the flange; but that method is practically defective and unreliable, owing to the fact thatthe solder, following the metallic contact between the flange and can-body, is apt to fasten the end plate of the cap more or less firmly to the extreme edge of the can-body.' Under these circumstances the stripping of the iiange only renders the opening of the can more inconvenient and difficult to accomplish. If the interior surface of the end plate is raised above or beyond the edge of the can-body to avoid the above objection, the can is rendered comparatively useless for the packing and transportation of fluids or semi-fluids, since it cannot loe filled to its capacity without overflowing when opened. I overcome both the above-named difficulties by, and my invention consists in, forming the end cap with a circumscribing interior groove between the end plate and the .tlange thereof, whereby the end plate is made to occupy substantially the same plane as that of the edge of the can-body, while the groove prevents the soldering of the edges of the can-body to the end plate and facilitates the stripping off of the ange from the end of the can-body and from the end plate by reason of a circumscribing reduction in thickness in the cap coinciding with the said interior groove In the accompanying drawings, Figures 1, 2,

and 3 represent sectional elevations of the up per portions of a sheet-metal can, showing modifications in the form of my improved sealing and stripping joint. Figs. 4, 5, and 6 are enlarged sectional views illustrating more clearly the construction shown in the iirst three gures. Fig. 7 is a sectional view illustrating the` old method of sealing, upon which my invention is an improvement..

The body of the can A, a portion only of which is shown, may be of any desired form or construction, that shown in the drawings being presumably cylindrical. The plate b of the cap Bis formed with the exterior flange b.

When the cap is applied and the can passed lthroughthe soldering-machine or bath, the

solder insinuates itself rapidly between the opposed surfaces of the exterior of the canbody on one sideand the interior of the flange on the other, these surfaces being to all intents and purposes practically in contact wit h each other, and the flow of solder being certainl betweenl metallic surfaces which are thus close together. Hence, where the extreme end or edge et of the cau-body abuts against the inner surface of the end plate b of the cap B, as in Fig. 7, the solder is drawn in by the contact, the plate b is soldered directly to the edge a, of the can-body, and the stripping 0E of the llange does not unseal the package so as to give ready access to its con-4 tents. Thus, if the solder reaches the edge of the can-body an incisionor reduction in thickness formed in the cap at the angle between the body or plate b and the Iiange b of the cap is found to be of no practical value commercially. In fact, actual test has demonstrated that it is worse than useless, since the stripping of the llange leaves the plate of the cap attached to the end'of the canbodyA in such shape that it is difficult if not dangerous to effect the removal or partial removal of the end plate in order to gain access tothe interior of the can. Where the flange is thus portation of condensed milk, canned fruits in liquor, &c. As a result of investigation and experiment, I have devised means of overcoming the dieulties above referred to and of rendering 'the opening of the can by the stripping of the ange positive and eective, and without danger to the contents or any portion thereof.

The essential feature of construction in a can made according to my invention consists in forming the can-cap B with the circumscribing groove c between the end plate b and its tiange b', and in making. the circumscribing' incision or reduction in thickness d coincident with said groove. Thus the end plate b limits the capacity of the can to the height of the canbody, and the parts are soldered together only between the inner side of the flange and the exterior side of the canbody A, and when the flange is stripped from-the can-body the edge of the latter is exposed free and clear and no prying o of the plate is necessary; neither is there an overflow of the contents of the can. The stripping of the flange b is effected in any convenient or well-known manner, as by a twisting key or lever applied to the tongue b2, (shown in the first three tigures of the drawings,) as is commonly done, or by other suitable means.

Itis obvious that the means for effecting the circumscribing reduction in thickness in the cap B is of secondary importance. It may be accomplished by a circumscribing incision in either the exterior or interior of the cap or by upsetting or pinching the metal circumferentially to facilitate the severance or strip ping of the ange.

In Figs. 1 and 4 an incision d is made in the exterior surface coinciding with the groove o in the bead f; in Figs. 2 and 5 the circumscribing groove c, as well as the circumscribing reduction in thickness d, are formed by pinching up the metal between the flange b' and the end plate b, while in Figs. 3 and 6 the same result is attained either by interior incision or exterior pinching, or by both means in conjunction.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

A sheet metal can formed with an end cap having an exterior ange fitting over the end of the can body to which it is soldered, said cap being bent between its flange 'and its end plate to form a circumscribing concave interior groove above the end of the can body when the end plate is in substantially the same plane as that ot the edge ofthe can body, and a circumscribing reduction in thickness in the cap at or above the edge of the can body and coinciding with said interior groove, for the purpose of preventing the soldering of the end plate to the edge of the can body, and of adapting the can thus capped to contain fluids or semi-fluids by limiting the capacitythereof to the height of the can body substantially in the lnanner set forth.

OLIN STEPHEN FELLOWS.

Witnesses:

GEORGE WILLIAM MIATT, D. W. GARDNER. 

